Smashing Pumpkins Drum Sound

[Machina]

Hi guys,

as there have been many questions answered about the sound of certain albums / productions, I'd like to take my chance.
Big pumkins fan ever since (as you might have told by my username ) and I wondered if anybody knows a bit more about the

studio setup they used on for drums on their albums. I guess it has been pretty similar over the years, because the sound is always

pretty much pulled into one direction. Warm, big, smooth, natural, but explosive.

As far as I know, they've used a yamaha drumset mostly with 421's on toms and mainly a SM57 on snare. Everything tracked to 2".

So maybe somebody here has heard something more about it. Pre's, consoles, Mic's, EQ's etc. Any "specials" in recording/mixing?

I allow myself to ask this pretty childish fan-question , as I'd really love to know and as we have so many high-profile-people here that maybe have something to say about it.

This is gearslutz, right?

All the best,

Chris

[thermos]

Chaimberlain plays surprisingly quiet, given how amazing those records sound. I don't know if you have ever seen him play live, but it sounds exactly the same coming through the house as it does on those records, even in small rooms.
As for recording chain I don't know, I just know that the secret ingredient is his touch, and the way he plays the snare drum. He tunes it real high, and rim shots fairly quiet and close to the rim, so it sounds big but ringy.

[Machina]

Hi thermos,

yeah, I agree, it's 90% Chamberlin's drumming. Live the same.

Just want to get a little slutty about gear, you know

Chris

[Sqye]

I do believe you're asking the question backwards - it should be:

smashing drums pumpkin sound or

sound drums pumpkin smashing or

dnous murd snikpmup gnihsams

btw - i wanna know the name of the dude who used to live inside his kickdrum - you guys know who i mean
Seriously, though, it's just RIDICULOUS - someone should legislate laws against folks who LIVE inside poor unsuspecting musicians' kickdrums, NO - am I CRAZY????? : )

[pan]

Sqye, I think he asked about Pumpkins' smashing drum sound...

or was it Pumpkins smashing drums - sound?


That kickdrum was a barrel, btw - and the dude's name was Diogenes IIRC.

Have a nice week, Niko

[Sqye]

lol

[thejook]

I dunno...but I do know that Gravity Studios has one of his snares.

Anyone from CRC care to chime in on this one? Or Butch Vig maybe? If Mr. Vig cares to comment on one of these threads, howsabout some lore about the *Nevermind* drum sound?

[Machina]

How come I knew before?

But maybe there are some pumpkins fans around or people that have been involved in a sp production? Who know's?



Regards,

Chris

[heyman]

Jimmy Chamberlain is a great drummer period. he is one of those guys who just makes a good band great. Consistent, in the pocket. Has a great feel..

Put him on $500 drumkit and he will still rock your ass off..

[Machina]

Yeah, yeah I know. All this is so true. He IS unbelieveably good and his drumming would sound great even if he played on an old sh**y set, BUT the question is:

How did those engineers make a great drummer with great skills playing on a well tuned/sounding drumset sound great on an album?
What gear/console did they use? How was it recorded/mixed?

I hoped to find guys with some insight in these particular productions.
Maybe some gearslut engineered or assisted there?

hoping for some answeres to this...

Greetings,

Chris

[pan]

******//www.soundonsound.com/sos/may00/articles/alan.htm

... The Chicago-based band had set up their own studio prior to sessions for Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, and for the new project they used an old API desk which boasted a sound all of its own....

[flail19]

I caught a Jimmy Chamberlain drum master class a couple of years back. When asked about any production techniques or studio set ups he seemed to always answer with a "I don't remember" or I'm not sure but..." It was a great class and he seemed very knowledgeable about drumming but I wonder how much he was actually involved with the production of any of the SP records. BTW, Jimmy may endorse Yamaha but I have heard that he also uses Brady drums in the studio, maybe the snares.

[Gravity8058]

[QUOTE=thejook]I dunno...but I do know that Gravity Studios has one of his snares.
QUOTE]

Yes, Jimmy gave me a snare (that I believe he used some on Gish and a compilation that they did in ?? 92"). Received that after they recorded rehearsals and some demos here at Gravity just prior to headlining Lolapolloosa. It's a great snare -- 8" Pearl Maple free floater.

I can contribute a couple things: Jimmy loves big ass snares -- like 8", he plays Yamaha Maple Custom drums.

I know on Melloncollie, and the Machina records he they recorded his kit in a relatively dead room (completely carpeted) However, with Zwan that was not the case.

He's also an extremely nice guy who unfortunately moved to LA last year (from CHI).
We had the pleasure of hosting a session he played on his brother's record -- also talented. Got a pic on our website: www.gravitystudios.com

[brendondp]

Here's a link to what he's using now...

******//www.jimmychamberlincomplex.com/gear.php

There's an article floating around somewhere about the recording process for the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex sessions, mics, that it went to 2", etc, but I can't find it now. I'll post it should I stumble across it.

Cheers,

bdp

[Machina]

Hi guys,

Wow! Great links, great studio and great info! Seems like a very nice place at Gravity. Really nice client-list, too...

Thanks people! Really useful posts.

Can't wait for more

All the best,

Chris

[absrec]

Originally Posted by thermos

Chaimberlain plays surprisingly quiet

I have a friend that assisted the late Mark Richardson on the "Siamese Dream" sessions at Triclops studios here in town. He said that he and another studio hand had to sit in front of Jimmy's kit. If part of the kit started to fall over, it was their job to put it back in place 'cause he hit the damn things so hard. Apparently, when he went out in the room to play, there was a 90% chance that that was going to be the take.

This is just what I heard from someone who was there.

[choodelphia]

Many years ago I read an article on the recording of Siamese Dream.

They used an API console.

They said Jimmy's hands were bleeding a lot.

He is unreal on Gish & Siamese. Definitely some of the best rock drumming ever.

[choodelphia]

Butch Vig is the man.

He produced Nevermind & then Siamese Dream right after that.

Pretty groundbreaking stuff to be involved with.

[Machina]

Neve, SSL, API. What one could have expected...

Any suggestions on mic's (the only thing I'm kinda sure about is 421's on toms) and outboard?

Thx and just the best,

Chris

[Machina]

Oh, one thing I forgot:

Does anybody know the song "Stand Inside Your Love" from "Machina"?
Any suggestions to that particular, massive drumsound?
Lots of compression, for sure...

Greets,

Chris

[XSergeantD]

Originally Posted by Machina

Neve, SSL, API. What one could have expected...

Any suggestions on mic's (the only thing I'm kinda sure about is 421's on toms) and outboard?

Thx and just the best,

Chris

who was the engineer

[Machina]

I just know the producers. For engineers I'd have to take a look in the booklets.
Gish and Siamese Dream: Butch Vig
Mellon Collie and Adore: Flood

Greets,

Chris

[XSergeantD]

well, I had a whole long replyabout Alan M and Flood, but when I hit reply I got "unable to load page" - sorry. So in short, basically I said he uses his ears. There's a few gefell mic's he uses (really strange setup I saw used for one of the room sounds) some 414s, 58s, 421, 451, 421s, 87s, coles,... nothing way out there other than their personal Gefell mics. He uses his ears and knows what mics will give him what sounds for the type of song he's working on. I've seen the 58's on top o the snare, on the bottom, with the grill's on, and with them off. room mic's placed in a torn open cardboard box placed just off the floor off to the side o the drummer and the same set up behind the drummer when the kit was in a different location. I've seen him set drums up half way in a closet - facing INTO the closet. He tries different things out and knows what he's looking for by using his ears and if it's all wrong, the kit is moved elsewhere. Sorry the original response didn't make it, I don't know why that happens here.

[Machina]

Hi Brent,

no problem! I'm sorry your post got lost. But very interesting nontheless.
Are you talking about Flood or Alan M?

BTW: What an impressive studio (at the palms)! Looks like an awesome place. Also a little bit more sunny than in good ol' germany, I guess...

Thanks & all the best,

Chris

[XSergeantD]

Originally Posted by Machina

Hi Brent,

no problem! I'm sorry your post got lost. But very interesting nontheless.
Are you talking about Flood or Alan M?

BTW: What an impressive studio (at the palms)! Looks like an awesome place. Also a little bit more sunny than in good ol' germany, I guess...

Thanks & all the best,

Chris

Not sure who set up what. Both Alan Moulder and Flood are producing and engineer right now, so depends on who's working on what sounds on which days. Either way, they work quite well together and I believe they have a mixing studio back in the UK with the SSL 4k they bought from T. Reznor. They're working as a team on an album right now, co-producers, co-engineers.

[NeveMaster]

Originally Posted by thejook

I dunno...but I do know that Gravity Studios has one of his snares.

Anyone from CRC care to chime in on this one? Or Butch Vig maybe? If Mr. Vig cares to comment on one of these threads, howsabout some lore about the *Nevermind* drum sound?

Ampex 350 on snare

[matt thomas]

I'd be willing to bet my right ovary that they get chamberlains drum sound using what ever mics and outboard happen to be in the studio they're recording in at the time.

narco (mr)

[theblotted]

the comment about 90% of take could be that Jimmy just simply didn't want to play any more..

don't get me wrong, i was a die-hard SP fan (owned every single song/release/demo they ever made since The Marked days), and needless to say i'm a huge fan of his playing.

but i also read somewhere on the net that since Butch Vig is a drummer, he was very particular with the drums. and Vig would go cut up the tapes hardcore, just to align Jimmy's drums properly (much like what we do w/ ProTools these days).

i'll see if i can dig up that link.

on a side note, Billy is a huge fan of Neve's since SD, so it wouldn't surprise me if they ran thru a Neve console.

[wwittman]

I don't know about Siamese Dream, but on Nevermind, doesn't sound as though you don't hear much of the recorded snare or bass drum.. only Andy Wallace's samples.

[cerberus]

i heard that billy corgan played every part on siamese dream himself. perhaps that story is exaggerated?

jeff dinces